Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart / by Alice Walker

 

Classic-contemporary author Alice Walker, she of The Color Purple fame, details a freethinking couple's vacation to separate locales in this surrealistic novel. Thrice-divorced Kate is a well-accomplished writer living with her current partner, Yolo, a successful painter when the couple decides to take a break from it all and re-evaluate their relationship, each on their own "spiritual" sabbatical. Kate's journey begins and stays rooted in nature first rafting the Colorado River and finally backpacking into Mexico with a group seeking spiritual enlightenment. Accompanied by a shaman spirit guide and complete with some organic hallucinogenic aids, Kate and her diverse companions attempt a mystical brand of spiritual revival. More conventional but no less unpredictable, Yolo escapes to Hawaii seeking peace and quiet after a rigorous period of painting only to discover some re-awakening of his own when he encounters a former lover.

Walker's easy style allows any reader to tap into her characters even during the most "out-there" episodes and the down-to-earth frankness in her delivery will relate well to any reader. Fans of Walker's poetry and non-fiction will recognize her own voice clearly realized in Kate's oft-given reflections on personal, social, political, and relational concerns. This is a great book for anyone seeking a bit of fantasy within realistic fiction and as well as some new vacation ideas. (FIC WALKER)